Born in the Third Gender: A Truth About Roopini (Hijra, The Third Gender)

Selvi,a maid servant, becomes pregnant when she was 18. She refuses to disclose who the father is, so is thrown out of the family. Abducted by bad guys Selvi is forced to work as a prostitute in a brothel.Raja (renamed as Roopini later) is the narrator of this autobiography and is Selvi's baby born and bred in the brothel.

Roopini was born with an atypical male organ with some features of the female. He was more male than female in genitals, so was raised as a boy. The life was never easy for an 'intersexed' child.

"Hijra, The Third Gender" is a series of autobiography fiction. The narrator of each story tells you about her/his life - how and why she/he was thrown into the third gender and about her/his experience.

Hijra means a transgender individual adopted by a guru in the well organized transgender community believing in the same goddess and living in feminine attire. Hijra is referred to as "the third gender." Rules and ceremonies for adoption, initiation, castration, etc. are well defined in the hijra community. Once you get nirvan (castration ceremony often done without anesthesia) you cannot go back to your former self.

[Front cover art]
Acknowledgement:The front cover image was derived from a picture of Bharatnatyam performance released on Flickr by Meenakshi Payal under a Creative Commons Attribution License 2.0.